When an anti-DEI ban derails her lesson plans for Asian American Heritage month, and a hot pot goes on the fritz, Mx. Chan and her high school students are sent on a time travel journey through Asian American history. But beware, those who don’t learn from history are doomed to reheat it!
HOT POT TIME MACHINE is a comedic time travel movie that confronts the erasure of Asian American narratives from the teaching of American history. In a nod to Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure, the film is set in San Dimas, CA, but as it is today–a politically split, culturally diverse suburban enclave. Mx. Chan, a former Occupy activist turned high school history teacher, is preparing to wow her apathetic students with lessons on Asian American history at the start of AANHPI Heritage Month. Unfortunately her plans are derailed when Principal Ron cancels “anything ethnic studies” to preemptively obey with federal anti-DEI mandates. Mx. Chan struggles with the choice to comply or lose her job, even asking her ancestors for guidance at the family altar. A couple of well-meaning but bungling ancestors intervene and accidentally spill liquid from a student’s confiscated vape pen on an electric hot pot, turning it into a time machine.
The hot pot time machine whisks Mx. Chan and a group of her students off on a wild journey through Asian American history from as early as the 1500s to as recently as 2020. Mx. Chan and her students must navigate the systemic power dynamics of the past in order to return to the present. Along the way they connect with history in ways both visceral and personal–drawing inspiration from such historical events as Chinese American railroad workers completing the transcontinental railroad, Japanese American families surviving incarceration by their own government during WWII, Filipino and Mexican farmworkers having each other’s backs during the 60s-era Delano Grape Strike. In the climactic ending, Mx. Chan and her students use the knowledge they gained on their time travel journey to reclaim their power in the present and their right to learn un-redacted American history.
Jenessa Joffe is a Los Angeles-based director, writer, and producer who is passionate about creating social change through comedy. Jenessa earned a BA in East Asian Studies from Wesleyan University and an MFA in Directing from the American Film Institute. Jenessa directed the award-winning web series, Radical Cram School, for comedian Kristina Wong. The series, which explores Asian American identity and activism for kids, went viral, got attacked by far-right hate groups, was distributed by women’s comedy platform, WhoHaHa, and led to a book deal for the forthcoming "Auntie Kristina's Guide to Asian American Activism" (Beaming Books, May 2026). Other comedy shorts Jenessa had directed, such as Kristina Wong's How Not To Pick Up Asian Chicks, The Whizz! The All-New, All-White Version of The Wiz!, and Intercourse With A Vampire, have been distributed by Comedy Central, Fusion Comedy, and racked up millions of views online. Jenessa’s short films, Over The Moon, The Legend of Shizuko Nishimura, Shank, and American Obon, have played at film festivals and been distributed worldwide by Shorts International. Over The Moon appears in the feature anthology, The Edge of Her Mind, a collection of short films about women and mental health. Jenessa has produced and directed video content for clients such as Sony Pictures, HarperAudio, Avantus Solar Energy, Toyota, Amanda Palmer, SoCalGas, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the City of Los Angeles. She served as the Head of Video Production to the Mayor of Los Angeles. Jenessa grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Kristina Wong - Screenwriter and Lead Actor (Mx. Chan)
Jeanie Duque Dizon - Screenwriter
Jenessa Joffe - Screenwriter
